The Rant: Right or wrong, the Redskins should always be the Redskins

Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen informed reporters on Thursday that the NFL team has no intention of changing its name, despite mounting pressure from critics. Now, let me make one thing clear: as far as team names go, this is absurdly insensitive. The problem is that it’s old news.

If we could go back in time and debate the mascot in the first place, maybe we could have an argument. But you can’t suddenly change the team name and expect people to pretend it never existed. All the decades worth of merchandise and history is branded into people’s memories. At this point, people don’t associate the team name with any insensitivity. It simply relates to one of the league’s most storied franchises. Was it a mistake once? Perhaps. That doesn’t mean it’s something worth fixing, however.